Contrary to some published reports – one of which I casually retweeted the other day, which I now wish I hadn’t, lesson learned – Bob Hartley will not be the next coach of the Montreal Canadiens. He’s going to coach the Calgary Flames.

Bob Hartley, former Avs coach, is now back in the Northwest Division. My question is: what took him so long to get back into the NHL?

My opinion of Hartley will always be positive. He was/is a genuinely good man. He was a great quote – remember some of his lines like, when Scott Parker used to stare down Red Wings players before playoff games, and when asked about it, Hartley said “Maybe he’s just admiring some of his heroes.” He was, most of all, a good coach.

The man coached four full seasons with the Avs. They made it to the conference finals all four years, and won a Stanley Cup once. He was fired early into his fifth year, with a winning record. It wasn’t right.

Hartley and Flames GM Jay Feaster have a deep connection, for those wondering why he ended up in Calgary. Hartley was coach and Feaster was GM of the Hershey Bears in the 1990s, the old AHL affiliate of the Avs. Pierre Lacroix is the guy who hired Feaster. Together, they won a Calder Cup in Hershey, and have always been close since.

Now, the timing was right for them to be reunited. I haven’t seen or talked to Hartley in a couple years at least. He spent this past year coaching in Switzerland, and before that was an analyst for RDS, the French equivalent of TSN in Canada. He took the Atlanta Thrashers to their one and only playoff appearance.

He’s a winner. He’s also, without a doubt, the most on-the-go, Type A guy I’ve ever been around for any length of time. Hartley can never sit still and just relax. He’s always fidgeting, his mind always one step ahead of his mouth. If you ask him a question, you can see him fighting the urge to answer after the first words are out of your mouth, because he already knows what the rest of the sentence will be.

He wasn’t always beloved with the Avs. A lot of guys called him “Bobby Heartless.” He was tough on rookies. Whenever they might screw up at training camp and he became annoyed by it, he might say loudly “I smell chocolate fumes” – meaning, a trip to Hershey might be in the offing.

Patrick Roy once smashed up a room with his stick after Hartley pulled him from a game. But you know what? Today, Hartley and Roy are very close.

He’s going to be a great fit in Calgary I think. He’s been a great fit everywhere else he’s ever been.